


It's Called Sparring

by QuillMind



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Awkwardness, Childhood, Explanations, F/M, Family Issues, Mild Sexual Content, Other, Parenthood, Reader-Insert, Semi-Public Sex, The Talk, child lucina
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-27
Updated: 2017-09-27
Packaged: 2019-01-06 02:20:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12201936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuillMind/pseuds/QuillMind
Summary: Frederick is greeted by a little Lucina upon his return to Ylisstol, only to be told that she thinks there may be trouble between you and Chrom.  Obviously Frederick must get to the bottom of this, but the answer turns out to not be what he expected...





	It's Called Sparring

**Author's Note:**

> Amidst all the other stuff going on in my life, I got this random story idea. It'd be nice to write more Chrom/Reader stuff, now that I think about it...

The halls of the Royal Palace rang out with the sound of tiny, urgent footsteps, and Frederick knew exactly who they belonged to.  While he wanted to reprimand the person for conduct unbecoming of a lady or a warrior, the instant four-year-old Lucina rounded the corner and showed her overjoyed face, he could not help but soften a tiny bit.  

“Fedrick, welcome home!” Lucina squealed, leaping into the Captain of the Knights’ arms.  Frederick caught the child easily and lifted her up so that she soared above him like a bird.  She laughed, then stretched her hands down to him, signaling she wanted a hug.  He obliged and patted her head, which shook as she snuggled into his shirt.  

“Hello, Lucina, it is good to see you.”  Frederick allowed a modest smile.  

Lucina pulled herself back to stare with wide eyes.  “You were gone forever!”  

“Not forever,” he corrected, shaking his head, “it was only three weeks.”  He had been away to train new knight recruits--a task which could have been left to one of his lieutenants, but in Frederick’s mind, if you wanted something done right, you had to do it yourself.  Only an hour ago had he returned to Ylisstol, handing off his horse and armour to his squire before entering the palace where he had been ambushed by the youngest member of the Royal Family.

A frown briefly flitted across Lucina’s face--she was still too young to comprehend time beyond a few days.  “It felt like forever,” she retorted, turning her nose up a little.  

Frederick sighed, wondering if that stubborn part of Lucina’s personality was owed to her father or you, her mother.  

“Have you been behaving yourself?” he asked, lowering the child to the floor.  “Doing what your parents tell you?”  

“Yes, Fedrick!” Lucina grinned proudly.  She wasn’t aware that she was not saying his name properly yet.  She also called Maribelle ‘Marbel,’ much to the Valkyrie’s annoyance and her husband Vaike’s amusement.  

“And where are they?”

“Nnnn, they were talking in Mother’s room about visiting Plegia soon.”

Frederick nodded.  “Did anything happen while I was away?”

Lucina’s smile faded, and she looked away.  “Umm… No, but...”  

A frown creased Frederick’s brow.  “But what?  Is something the matter?”  

Lucina’s tiny fists squeezed at her shirt.  “I think… I think Mother and Father are fighting!” she blurted out.  

“What?” Frederick said in disbelief.  “Fighting?  What were they arguing about?”  He knew both Chrom and you could be quite headstrong, but he could not recall if he’d ever seen the two of you have an actual fight.  

“No, Fedrick, they were fighting!”  Lucina brought up her fists and shot out adorable little punches.  

Frederick was horrified.  Ylisse’s Exalt and his Consort, engaging in spousal violence?  Unheard of!  Unacceptable!  And the thought of their young daughter having witnessed it…

He went down on his knees so that he was at eye level with the princess.  “Lucina, can you tell me how this happened?  What exactly did you see?”  

Lucina’s faltered as she picked up on Frederick’s tension, but she steeled herself and started to speak.  

“Um, one morning, I was going to wake them up early for breakfast, and, and I heard loud noises, like bang, bang!”  She jumped up and down for emphasis.  “And I heard Mother crying!”  

“Crying!?”  

Lucina nodded.  “I opened the door just a bit.  Mother kept saying Father’s name, but the noises keep going.”  

Frederick felt dread grip his heart.  His loyalty to Chrom was absolute, but if he was doing something as deplorable as striking his wife, the Shepherds’ Tactician--

The silence was making Lucina nervous, so she continued.  “Mother didn’t fight back, and when she cries, it sounds weird, like she’s running.  And Father sounds like when he does during sword lessons!”  

Frederick stilled.  “...What?”  

“Like, rrgh!  Ugh!  Hng!” Lucina grunted in her deepest possible voice while mimicking wielding a sword.  “At the very end, Mother did fight!  She hugged him and scratched his back like a cat, and then Father collapsed!”

_...Oh.   _

_ Ohhhh, I see. _

Frederick groaned inwardly and pinched the bridge of his nose.  This was  _ not _ the sort of thing he expected to come home to.  

It was true that the two of you, the rulers of Ylisse and the famed Shepherds that had defeated Grima, had busy schedules for almost every day.  And being the dedicated and hard-working people that you were, you did as much as you possibly could for the nation and its people, while still somehow finding the time to care for your beloved daughter.  But you were still relatively new as a couple, and having gone through several life-or-death situations, including an actual death and resurrection on your part, there were moments when one or both of you  _ had _ to drop what they were doing and get lost in each other’s arms.  Frederick and some of the other Shepherds knew of your insatiable hunger for Chrom and his for you firsthand.  Tents provided very little soundproofing, after all.  

“Fedrick?”  

The knight blinked and looked up at Lucina, who was waiting for his full attention before she spoke again.  

“So, so, it was like Mother and Father are fighting, but they looked happy, and they were smiling, and another time when they were fighting in Father’s study I heard Mother say that she loved it, so I’m not sure if it’s bad or not.”  

Finished with her report, Lucina bounced restlessly, waiting for Frederick’s response (which would ideally include a compliment for her).  

Meanwhile, Frederick’s head was on fire in mortification as he tried desperately not to think of his Lord and Lady going at it like animals.  For better or worse, the princess was unaware of what she had partially heard and seen, but Frederick knew that telling her to forget about it would not work.  If anything, it would encourage Lucina to spy on her parents even more and ask any and every person she could find until the mystery was solved.  

If Naga appeared before Frederick and would allow him to avoid this situation if he ate an entire platter of bear meat, he would have instantly taken her up on her offer.  

Sadly, divine intervention was not in the cards for the knight.  

After what felt like forever, he took a deep breath and put his hands on Lucina’s shoulders.  

“Lucina, you need not worry,” he said firmly.  “Your mother and father are…  _ very _ happy together.”  

“Really?”  Dark blue eyes sparkled.  

Frederick nodded.  “Really.  They are not angry with each other in the least, nor were they really fighting.  They were… sparring.”  

“Sparring?”  

“Yes.  You know your parents are the leaders of the Shepherds.  They must keep their skills sharp at all times.”  

Lucina tugged at her hair thoughtfully.  “But I never saw the other Shepherds spar in bed--or on tables--”

“It is a  _ special _ form of sparring done only between loved ones,” Frederick cut in.  “And they are not hurting each other, not seriously.”  

“Promise?” Lucina asked.  

“I swear it.  And I will be sure to tell them not to be so… rough or loud when sparring.”  

Lucina’s features were pinched in contemplation for a while before her young mind decided this was an acceptable answer.  “Okay!” she said with a smile.  “Thank you, Fedrick!”  

“Now, how about you go to your Aunt Lissa and have her take you to the kitchens?  By now the page should have delivered the Vuran berry cakes I brought back to them.  Have them prepare tea so that we can all eat some together.  I will go fetch your parents.”  

The specific instructions along with the mention of cake were easily enough to make Lucina push the previous subject out of her mind.  “I will!  I’ll get to Aunt Lissa’s room so fast!”  Lucina sped off down the hall, turning back once to grin at Frederick.

“Be careful not to trip and fall!” Frederick warned in a voice as loud as possible without being a shout.  He listened carefully until the little princess’ footsteps could no longer be heard, then let out a weary, long sigh that made him feel extremely old.  

But discipline returned, and he got to his feet and began walking towards your room--hoping dearly that you and Chrom were not ‘sparring’ at this time.  Although, if memory served him, Chrom would have returned from a diplomatic meeting in Valm a couple of days ago,  _ and _ you had been drafting plans for providing aid to a coastal province that had suffered a famine... 

...It was  _ very _ likely that you two were sparring.  

Following the generous warning of a few knocks and clearly announcing himself outside of the door, Frederick would enter your study a little later, forcibly ignoring the telltale flush on Chrom’s cheeks and your still-disheveled hair.  Once the initial greetings were out of the way, it would take the knight some time before he’d awkwardly explain to you what Lucina had told him.  When he finished he was blushing with embarrassment, though he was nowhere near as red as you and Chrom were.  

From that day forward, Frederick would demand that Gaius no longer teach Lucina how to sneak around and snoop undetected, and you and Chrom became highly diligent in locking your doors.

**Author's Note:**

> Come kick it with me at [Tumblr](https://quillmind.tumblr.com/) and tell me which FE:A guy is your favourite!


End file.
